Metals industry calls for more apprentice training

, and Richard Morley, Managing Director of Caparo Merchant Bar, EEF Sheffield President and MetSkill Vice Chair, were addressing 200 guests at the joint Metals Industry Awards and EEF Centenary Scholarship Awards evening held by MetSkill at the Cutlers Hall, Sheffield, last week to celebrate the achievements of those working in the sector . Announcing the winners of the Metals Industry Apprentice of the Year title, Stephen Tilsley, chief executive of Metsec plc and Chair of MetSkill congratulated the companies present on training apprentices but issued a challenge to employers across the sector. “Let’s raise the bar, let’s step up our intake of apprentices and aim for 20% of our workforce to be made up of ex-apprentices by 2015. That alone will give a major boost to our technical skills base,” he said. “Simply to sustain current business, we need apprentices to replace skilled employees who are retiring or otherwise leaving the industry. We also need them to help us keep pace with advances in technology. And we need to train more.” Mr Morley dismissed the notion that the UK had become a post-industrial society, reliant on the service sector for economic growth. “This is not true,” he told the audience. “Recently, we have seen how fragile the service industries can be, as the impact of the 'credit crunch' is being felt by us all. I firmly believe that engineering and manufacturing is still at the heart of wealth creation in the UK today and if we are to compete in the global market, we need people with higher skills and better knowledge than ever before.” In the Metals Industry Apprentice of the Year awards, The 2008 Career Development title went to Teri-Leigh Gillespie, 20, an advanced apprentice in metallurgy at Corus Engineering Steel (CES). Craig Conlon, 21, an apprentice roll-forming technician at Metsec plc clinched the 2008 Craft Skills award. Runners-up in each category were Nathan Wilkinson, a fourth-year apprentice at Corus Construction and Industrial and EEF Apprentice of the Year 2007, and Leanne Green, an advanced apprentice in electrical engineering at Independent Forgings and Alloys Ltd. Nobby Stiles MBE, member of England’s winning 1966 World Cup football squad, presented Teri and Craig each with a clock and £1,200 of computer vouchers. They also won an expenses-paid trip to London in December to attend the Worshipful Company of Tin Plate alias Wire Workers annual dinner. EEF Centenary Scholarship Awards of £1,000 each were made to three promising apprentices to help further their education and training, as follows: Carl Hunt of Moeller Produktion International for travel to Italy to visit engineering museums and companies to broaden his knowledge; Kevin Blackburn of Corus Construction and Industrial to purchase a lap-top computer; and the second award of the night to Leanne Green to purchase advanced diagnostics software. The event also celebrated the successes of over 40 achievers from metals companies in the Yorkshire and Humber region who received certificates for the completion of training programmes. They included apprenticeships, level 4 NVQ in management, NVQs in Business-Improvement Techniques at levels 2 and 3, and Metals Industry ‘Managing for Success’ and ‘Leadership Development’ programmes. Companies represented included Bridon International, Caparo Merchant Bar, Cold Drawn Products, Darron SBO, Darwin Holdings, Gripple, MTL Group and Wedge Group Galvanising.